First Banks in Wisconsin. 
167 
consin, is estimated to have been over $200,000. The total loss 
to the residents of Wisconsin during the thirties and the forties, 
resulting from a demoralized banking system and a depreciated 
currency, can not be estimated with any exactness; for while 
there was only one bank in the territory in 1839, the bulk of 
the currency came from banks in other states and we know how 
these banks—the mushroom growth of a night—deluged the 
country with their worthless paper. From 1830 to 1837 the 
banks of the country increased from 329 to 788; their capital 
just doubled—$145,192,268 to $290,772,091; while their liabili¬ 
ties (deposits) leaped from $55,559,928 to $127,397,185—more 
than doubled—and their note issues rose from $61,323,898 to 
$149,185,890; their specie reserve on the other hand increased 
only from $22,114,917 to $37,915,340. 14 
Even during the panic of 1837-8, although the bank credits 
(loans) were contracted from $525,115,702 to 485,631,687, and 
although the currency was contracted about $33,000,000, the 
number of banks increased from 788 to 829 and their capital 
from $290,772,091 to $317,636,778. 
The North American Review for January, 1844, 15 describes the 
condition subsequent to the panic of 1837 and 1839 thus: “In 
some of the new states it was difficult even for the wealthy to 
obtain money for the daily use of life. We have heard of farm¬ 
ers owning large and well-stocked farms who could hardly get 
money enough to pay the postage on a letter. They had 
scarcely any currency, and most of that which they had was 
bad. ” This applies with considerable force to the condition of 
Wisconsin settlers. Another way of estimating the losses, 
from the standpoint of the period itself, may be found in a dia¬ 
logue between Plowshare and Counter, 16 which illustrates, in 
some degree, the injury of a depreciated currency upon a farm¬ 
ing community: Plowshare tells Counter that the notes of the 
Bank of Clinton have been refused at any price, while the notes 
of the Bank of Wisconsin and the banks of Calhoun and Ma- 
14 See table page 161, above. 
16 No. Am. Rev., Jan., 1844, p. 121. 
16 Wisconsin Democrat, Sept. 22,1838. 
